§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport, pursuant to his reply of 10 July 2002,Official Report, column 975W, on traffic forecasts, from whom his Department has commissioned work; what the scope of this work is; what the cost of work commissioned is; and what the timetable for this work is. [70640]
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§ Mr. JamiesonWork on different aspects of a multi-modal modelling and forecasting capability has been commissioned from:
- Faber Maunsell
- Institute for Transport Studies, Leeds University
- Marcial Echenique and Partners
- MDS Transmodal
- TRL (formerly the Transport Research Laboratory)
- WS Atkins.
This work has included:
- a review of requirements and approach,
- development of rail and highway network models.
- development of a central model of travellers' mode choice decisions,
- development of a national model of freight movements, and
- updating of previous work on the impact of different transport policies. to be consistent with the new framework.
The resulting modelling system incorporates elements of the forecasting framework previously used to inform development of the 10-year plan. Work has included developing interfaces between various model components, and general integration and testing.
The total value of the contracts awarded is of the order of £1.38 million.
An initial version of the new framework is operational and being tested. Certain further improvements are being incorporated, and a programme of longer-term development has been identified.